This invention relates generally to pneumatic paintball guns. More specifically, this invention relates to pneumatic paintball guns that use electronic circuitry to control one or more paintball gun operations.
Until recently, paintball was played with purely mechanically-operated pneumatic guns. With the introduction of electro-pneumatic paintball guns, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,881,707; 5,967,133; and 6,035,843, however, a new age in paintball technology was born. Along with electronic control came the ability to precisely control the timing of gun operations. Precise electronic timing allowed problems with ball chopping and blow back to be overcome, thus permitting much higher firing rates than previously considered possible. The electronic circuitry also made it possible to program these paintball guns with varying firing rates such as semi-auto, 3 or 6 shot bursts, turbo, and even full-auto. In addition, the extremely light triggers made possible by use of a trigger-actuated microswitch made it possible for users to easily reach high firing rates even in pure semi-automatic mode. Unfortunately, however, higher firing rates have introduced a new range of problems.
One of these problems is inconsistent shot-to-shot paintball velocities. In the sport of paintball, it is desirable to maintain as consistent a paintball velocity as possible. In both recreational and tournament play, a maximum velocity for paintballs launched from the paintball gun is mandated. If a player uses a gun that fires above this velocity, it is considered to be shooting xe2x80x9chotxe2x80x9d and the player using it will be disqualified. At the same time, however, if a player uses a paintball gun that fires at too low a velocity, both the distance that the paintball will travel and the speed with which it will travel toward its intended target will be diminished. The player will therefore be left at a serious disadvantage compared to players whose guns are firing nearer the maximum permitted velocity. Inconsistency between shot-to-shot velocities also makes it hard for a player to plan his/her shots. It is therefore desirable to have shot-to-shot velocities that are consistent and predictable.
Several factors affect the consistency of the paintball velocity between shots. Particularly with respect to guns which use CO2, but also to some extent with respect to guns using nitrogen or compressed air as the propellant, a drop in velocity between shots (or xe2x80x9cshoot downxe2x80x9d) can result during rapid firing because the chamber (xe2x80x9cgas storage chamberxe2x80x9d) storing compressed gas for launching the paintball will not have adequate time to fill up to the desired pressure. This problem has been exacerbated in electronic paintball guns because of the high fire rates that are easily obtainable. Fortunately, in most electrically controlled paintball guns, dwell settings are available to control both the xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d time of a firing pulse, as well as an xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d time, or delay between shots. These settings can be predetermined in order to maximize consistency of velocity by permitting adequate time between shots for the compressed gas storage chamber to fill to the necessary pressure.
Using predetermined dwell settings, however, does not provide dynamic adaptation to respond to decreasing gas supply pressures, temperature changes, irregularities caused by poor regulator supplies, or other gun characteristics that can alter the velocity with which the paintballs are expelled. It would be desirable to have a way to automatically adapt the paintball gun to varying gun characteristics to permit a more consistent shot-to-shot velocity. It would also be desirable to dynamically measure and control paintball gun characteristics to improve other aspects of performance of the paintball gun.
An object of this invention is to provide a system and method for dynamically sensing and adjusting paintball gun characteristics to improve paintball gun operation, such as by providing a more consistent shot-to-shot velocity.
According to a preferred aspect of this invention, one or more characteristics related to the velocity of a paintball gun are determined during operation of the paintball gun and relayed to an electronic circuit. The electronic circuit dynamically adjusts one or more operational characteristics of the paintball gun to permit consistent shot-to-shot velocities. In other words, a feedback loop is integrated into the paintball gun to enable dynamic measurement of velocity or a velocity related characteristic and to provide feedback to the gun to allow it to regulate its own velocity to correspond to a desired velocity. In this way, consistent shot-to-shot velocity of the paintball gun is provided regardless of variations in shot rate, temperature, or other internal or external factors.
Alternatively, paintball gun characteristics related to other operational parameters of the paintball gun could be dynamically measured and controlled to improve paintball gun operation. Among other things, firing rate could be optimized based on a firing history of the paintball gun and a dynamically determined present firing rate. Temperature sensors could be used to measure a current temperature and dynamically adjust gun parameters based thereon. A loading sensor could be used to identify loading problems and dynamically adjust solenoid valve dwell settings where necessary to ensure a sufficient load time. Still other uses for the dynamic feedback loop of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.